Process of uniting metals



UNHE STATES arena @rrren,

PROCES$ (3F ijiiiiTlNG METALS- SPECIFICATION forming part of LettersE'atent No. 424,379, dated March 25, 1890.

Application filed November 1, 1889.

Serial No. 328,956, (No specimens) To all whom, it may concern:

Be it known that I, Ronnn'r Jonxsox 'lnq- FORD, a citizen of the UnitedStates, residing at Louisville, in the county of .lel'" .i-so11 andState of Kentucky, have inventor, a certain new and useful Process forUnilisg Iiietals; and ldo declare thcfollowirr; to be a lull, olcar, andexact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilledin the art to which itapperlains to make and use the same.

ily invention relates to an improved process of welding iron to steel orsteel to steel, in both cases the sections to be united having differentpercentages of carbon.

lleretoforc many attempts to perfectly weld such metals have beenattempted, but in so far as I am aware without success. The most commonmethod known to me consists in arranging steel and iron in a pile,subjecting said. pile to a welding hear, and thereafter subjecting it to"rolling, hydraulic pressure, hammering, or all. The product obtained bysuch methods is suitable for some purposes; but, generally speaking, iscommercially unsatisfactory by reason of the fact that when subjected toshocks or concussions above a certain degree it has its coherencydestroyed and the iron splitor separated from the steel, the resultbciugthat the product is fractured.

By my improved process I avoid the objections attendant upon previousmethods, and I am enabled to produce a compound product in which thewelding of the two metals to be united is so thoroughly cll'ected thattheir allied faces become practically obliterated and the metalhomogonemis thercat.

In conducting weldingl'iporations in accordance with my said process setforth herein 1. have found that important and valuable resuits are alsoobtained by employing a stool previously treated in accordance with theLetters Patent No. 397,170, issued February 5, 1885), to myself and onell. Til. ltedcmann, to which reference may be had for a more completeunderstamliug ol' the said process and the condition of the productbefore and after such trialmont. lly l'QlQI'CllCO to said patent it willbe found that the improved process set forth and claimed thereinrelates.

to subjecting Bessemer and other low grades of steer heated to such heatas may be do sired to a proviously-prepared liquid bath of suchcharacter that the contact of metal and liquid bath induces hyd rocarbongases, which are absorbed or taken up by the metal, the latter beingpermitted to remain insuch bath at pleasure or until substantially coolor un-- til such l'0(lll::1i()li of heat is made that it will no longeriulce up hydrocarbon gases. The results consequent upon such patentedpro- 6e ccss are stated to be inexpensive production of a highergradu ofsteel, minimum degree of labor involved therein, and the procurement ofa producthaving a molcctilarchange from a coarse grain to a line grainor silk vfrabture (0 increase tensile strength, elasticitv, toughness,and ductility, and to greatlyincrease the carbon. The principal elementsof. the bath mentioned are glycerinc and'waterinthc proportion of threeounces ofglyccrinc to one-halt gallon of Water. To such elements may beadded spirits of niter, aqua ammonia, chloride of ammonium, sulphate ofzinc, sulphate of alumina, and ammonia.

The steps and agents involved in said patcnted process have been heredetailed, for when the product thereof is used in the process formingthe subjectunatter of the pres cut application such steps and agentsconstitute a sub-process and will be directly relate-d thereto. It; isfurther, pro'perto hcre;. state that one of the advantagessccured forstceltreated by said patented process isitscapacityforresistingimpairinentbyrehoatingdfi such reheatingis-conducted at any tempcraf turc representing a degree of heat belowwhat wouldbc required to effect in part or wholl the destruction of thesteel qualities of the article.

In carrying out the present process in the 9c event of the union of ironto steel two or more furnaces are employed, and the irolnwh oh is thewrought-iron of connncrcc,is heated in one furnace to a high degree,equivalent to a dazzling while or just below its melting- 9 point. Thesteel to be united therewith, heated in a separate furnace to a degreeapproaching incipient redness, is placed in contact with the iron, thesurfaces, if desired, having been previously lluxcd or otherwise 10Lprepared to contribute to the union of the two metals. Therelatively-arranged iron and steel are then placed in either of the twofurnaces mentioned or in a separate furnace,

user AVAILABLE copy and are then gradually heated until the steelassumes substantially a bright-red color, at which period the metal iseither hammered or rolled, or both, to condense and reduce it completelyinto a compound product, in which the iron and steel exist in a perfectunion or weld. By heating the iron to a degree so much higher than thesteel, contact with the steel will, by reason of its greater heat-,beginto withdraw apart of the carbon of the steel, which becomes incorporatedin the said iron or portion of said iron at about the instant the twometals are brought in contact, the union finally becoming so completethat the g steel merges into the iron regularly and evenly, and therebyavoids the weakness that would exist were the junction of the two moresharply defined.

. It will be understood that by heating the iron to the high degreementioned and the steel to an incipient redness, and then arranging themrelative to each other, it will not be necessaryin thesucceedingoperations required to reduce and complete the compoundarticle to heat the external faces of the steel to an excessive extentin order to raise the covered face or portion adjacent to the iron to awelding degree. By such practice I am enabled to avoid the burning outor deterioration of the steel, which gcnerallyattonds the practice wherethe metals are arranged in a pile before heating.

I do not wish ,to be understood as limiting myself in the presentprocess to the welding with iron or low-grade steel of a, steel producedby said patented process previously mentioned, as it will be quiteobvious that other kinds of steels of varying quality or grade may besuccessfully welded to each other or to iron.

In giving the steel a preliminary heating, where consideredncccssary,.o[ comparative low degree, before arranging it relative tothe iron, undue or sudden expansion, when brought into proximity to thehighly-heated iron, is avoided, and hcnc'e liability to cracking orfracture; is avoided. I

As before stated, the process is applicable for securing a regular andcomplete welding of high and low grade sleol or of steel generally withiron.

In the within description, when iron is mentioned the wronghl-iron oiconunerce is referred to,and win-n such iron is (o be united withstcelit will be with cithcrof thequalities known as high and low gradecast-steel of the Bessemer production. When steel is to be united tosteel, the description contemplates two independent teel sections havingpronounced d iil'ercncos of carbon, thus constituting the same relativerelation and character that exists between wrought-iron and steel.

I claim-- I. The improved stop in the art of uniting wrought-iron andsteel or steel to steel having different percentages of carbon, the sameconsisting in heating the metal lowest in carbon to a degree equivalentto white heat, heating the metal highest in carbon to an. incipient redheat, and thereafter placing the two diffemntlydicated metals incontact, substantially as set forth.

2. The process of uniting wrought iron and steel or steel to steelhaving dilferent percentages of carbon, the same consisting in heatingthe metal lowest in carbon to a white heat, heating the metal highest incarbon to an incipient red heat, placing both metals in contact in afurnace and heating to a welding heat, and finally subjecting to afurther welding action, substantially as set forth.

3. The processof uniting steel withanietal having a comparative lowerpercentage of carbon, consisting in first subjecting steel at a whiteheat to the action of a liquid bath evolving hydrocarbon gases, heatingthe metal low in carbon to a high temperature, and then arranging thesteel relative thereto, and finally uniting, substantially as shown andset'forth.

4. The process of uniting steel withamet-al having a comparative lowpercentage of carbon, consisting in first subjecting steel at a whiteheat to the action of a liquid bath signature evolving hydrocarbon gasesuntil said steel.

